October 18, 2011

his day brings us into our first contact with direct services for people with ID.  There is an education and health care campus in Havana with multiple service buildings. Within this Cuidad Escolar Libertad is a school for children with autism (the majority of which have ID).  The similarities with US practices are apparent: individualized supports, passionate staff, and IEP-like team meetings (but 3 times a year). The differences are also striking.  Tangible resources are extremely limited: electricity is intermittent, there are no electronic devices or computers, and paper is extremely hard to come by.  We also spend time at an adult institution (psycho pedagogical center), and allowing for resource limitations and firm medical model, the intervention structure is fairly similar to what you might see in the US.  The approach overall is clearly Cuban: therapies rely heavily on herbal and complimentary strategies, sexuality is openly embraced, and families of residents who the staff identify as 'disfunctional' are targeted for (possibly lifelong) government-provided intervention.  There was also a 2:1 gender ratio of males to females in this facility.  Martin, a Cuban hero, has a quote that is particularly relevant to ID:  while there is work to be done, no man has the right to rest